Once your paint poured piece is done, use a palette knife or paint brush to clean any drips off of the edge of the canvas. Let you paint poured artwork sit at least 24 hours or until dry out of direct sun light on a flat surface where it wont’ be disturbed. Depending on the humidity, this could take up to several days. Once it’s completely dry, it’s ready for a top coat for extra protection and gloss, or it’s ready to hang and you can enjoy your artwork!
How To Do Acrylic Paint Pouring-For Beginners
Acrylic paint pouring is a fun way to create art at any skill level! Learning how to do acrylic pouring doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or have done this before. It’s a great fluid art medium and it just takes the right tools and a bit of letting go of control of art turning out “perfectly”. In fact, the more imperfect this art is, the better! To me, paint pouring is almost mesmerizing and I love how abstract art is so easy to create this way! You some how never create the same project twice, even if you use the same color or try to duplicate the same technique!
There are lots of ways to create a paint poured acrylic artwork, but we’ll start with the easiest technique creating a paint poured canvas art and using what’s called a “Dirty Pour”.
To make an acrylic pouring painting you’ll need:
–Acrylic craft paint in color of choice (Use as many or as few of colors as you like- using 2-3 paint colors is the best way to get started)
-Pouring Medium and Top Coat (You can use any brand, DecoArt Pouring Medium, Liquitex Pouring Medium, or Floetrol are to name a few. I am using the DecoArt brand)
-Or pre-mixed fluid paints
-Plastic cups and wood stir sticks
-Canvas Boards or regular canvases
– A tarp to protect the surface, or as I prefer, an old baking sheet to be used under my pouring surface but over my tarp that can be used as a paint drip tray and used over and over again (I also like to be able to reuse my dripped off paint for other projects!).
-Paint brush or palette knife to catch the drips
Mix the pouring medium into your craft paint to create the paint poured mixture. The general ratio for an acrylic paint pour is 50/50 or 1 :1. in other words, 50% paint pouring medium and 50% paint, or 1 part to 1 part. The consistency should be quite fluid, almost similar to loose honey.
Get your canvas ready for paint pouring
Place your canvas on a set of 3-4 cups underneath so it is slightly elevated above the tray. This ensures a smooth run off when you pour your paint. No priming or prep is needed on your canvas before paint pouring. Most canvases are pre-gessoed (primed) and that’s enough to paint pour over. You can even paint pour over an old canvas with art work already on it from the thrift store! If you want to use an old canvas and are worried about the other artwork bleeding though, you can base coat it with white paint or primer before starting.
After mixing your paint, decide which technique to use to pour your paint. Different acrylic pour techniques will end up with different results. A puddle pour, tree ring pour, marble pour, dutch pour and flip cup pour are just a few techniques you can try! One of the easiest and best paint pouring techniques for beginners the Dirty Pour. This involves pouring all of your paints in a cup together and then pouring from that one cup onto the surface of the canvas. I used a dirty pour when creating this paint poured boho bowl. But this fluid medium is so relaxed, you can even create your own pouring techniques just by experimenting with things like a circular motion or back and forth motion. Also, by adding a different layer of paint on top of each other can create another look.
What is Acrylic Pouring?
Acrylic Pouring is a Fluid Painting technique. Here, you mix different acrylic colors with a Pouring Medium and apply them to the canvas. You don’t apply the paint with a brush, but you pour them directly onto the canvas. Then you let the paint flow, change the direction of the flowing process and there you go – your first Acrylic Pouring Painting is almost done. The best about this technique is: You don’t have to be a talented artist or have great drawing skills. You just need some Acrylic Pouring supplies, a little bit of time and can enjoy creating unique art you will be satisfied about.
There are several Acrylic Pouring techniques, how you can pour your Acrylic Pouring painting, we show most of them step by step in the following article – have fun!
What do I need for Pour Painting?
We have an in-depth article about the pouring supplies you need to start with this fascinating painting technique. You can find it on our Acrylic Pouring Guide
- Acrylic Pouring Guide – Pour Painting for beginners
- Acrylic Pouring Supplies – What you need for your Pour paintings
- Acrylic Pouring Medium: Market Overview and Comparison
- The Secret to Acrylic Pouring Cells in your Fluid Paintings
- Acrylic Pouring Calculator
Puddle Pour
With the Puddle Pour each color is poured individually, one after the other on the canvas picture. A color is taken as a basis, in which all other colors are poured one after the other.
- Each color is mixed individually, together with the pouring medium (e.g. Liquitex) and water. The ratio is approx. 1:1:
- The individual colors are poured one after the other onto the centre of the painting ground.
- The painting ground is moved back and forth until the paint has spread over the painting ground and the result corresponds to the ideas.
